Unbound Trilogy Boxset

by Coopmans, Kathy

  “You’ve asked that already. At least a handful of times throughout the day. My answer is still the same.” I bite my lip, deciding to hold off on telling her the same way I did when she kept hounding me about it.

  Before I walked through the door of Ebony and Ivory this morning, I slipped off my ring and put it in my pocket. Up until now, I’ve been able to keep a straight face. Now that we aren’t surrounded by customers I guess I’m not doing a very good job.

  A little more happiness curls through me when she tilts her head to study me. Wheels just spinning inside her head. She’ll never guess, no matter how hard she tries.

  When Norah tricked me into going to Logan’s party I was angry at her for butting her nose in where it didn’t belong. Really, it’s Norah I have to thank for pushing me into Logan’s arms, but God, taunting her is so much fun.

  My best friend, my sister. My person.

  “That’s because I know you.”

  I know her too, I want to add. I’d also like to know why every time I called her she asked if I’ve seen Rocco. I found out from Logan the two of them got into it, and then the other day Rocco called asking for her number. But I’m going to leave it alone. For now.

  “Hmm.”

  Sliding the ring on my finger, I pick up the shot glass Norah set in front of me, lick my wrist, tip my head back and let the tequila glide down my throat. Following with a lime.

  Shock scatters across Norah’s features before she lifts her head, chin trembling, eyes filling instantly with tears.

  “Is that what I think it is? You’re engaged? Oh, my God. When?” Her mouth stays open, and her brows shoot up.

  “Yes and yes. The night before last.” Excitement bled from within me while tears well in Norah’s eyes as she leans over and takes hold of my hand. I have this feeling there won’t be much more laughter tonight. I think my mother would be okay with that.

  I surely am. The tears shed tonight will be ones of celebration with many more to come.

  “So,” she says, her fingers tracing my ring a couple of times before intertwining our fingers. “You opened your beautiful soul like I hoped you would, you found the positives in a man who I knew the night you met he was going to be the one and now look at you, you’re getting married, Ellie. Your moving home, aren’t you?”

  There’s no sorrow in her expression, only profound happiness.

  “Yes.” I tuck my trembling lip between my teeth.

  “I’m happy for you, Ellie. I’ll miss you. When are you leaving?”

  “A week or so. I’ll miss you more, Norah, but we aren’t that far away and we’re family. Family is forever.”

  Anticipation weaves through me. I can feel a little more of my old life unraveling. I’d already found peace. Logan made sure of that, and the journey we are starting is something I can’t wait to see where it takes us. I was starting over, a new life and gaining so much more than Logan. I was gaining more family. More bonds. More of a beautiful life I thought would be broken forever.

  Before and after. God, I couldn’t wait to get to all those afters. Cherish them for the rest of my life.

  But I was going to miss living with Norah more than I was going to miss anything else. We have a bond that no matter where life would have taken either one of us, it would have never been broken. It was just this morning when I was showering, eagerness coursing through me to get here when suddenly I realized just how close Norah and I are.

  My best friend, the center of me, the one who knows me best of all. Renita might be the foundation, it was Norah who built the walls. I don’t mean the walls that I spread to protect myself, the ones to show me what true sisterhood was about.

  When I think about everything Norah has done for me, even if it was just being awake late at night and all we did was sit in the dark. I think about the impact of her love. Without her, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

  Norah and I are tethered together. She’s not the sister I didn’t have. She is my sister.

  “Yes, we are family and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Home is always where the heart is and even though physically you were here, your heart was always in Texas. Now you get to share it with a man who came along and swept you off your feet. Dreams do come true, Ellie, and yours has. To me, no one deserves theirs to come true more than you.”

  I waver on what to say. Norah and I have been through so much together. Sharing secrets, hopes, and dreams. Dreams that were the same, and it’s because of the bond we share, of how we know each other well that I can’t hope and dream as I sit here that hers comes true too.

  “Well, hell, it’s about damn time Logan asked you. When you called yesterday to say you were coming to see us, that was when I knew he did.”

  It’s my turn to open my mouth. Shock widening my eyes when I whip around to see Renita getting off the couch and nearly flying across the room. My aunt who as of last week went from a cast to a boot is limping behind her. Both with smiles and overjoyed tears.

  “You knew?” Norah and I ask at the same time.

  “I did. I knew there was a man buried underneath Logan’s secret. One that is so in love with you, so respectful of family, that he came to me and asked my permission to ask you to marry him. It wouldn’t have mattered if I told him no, he would have anyway. You caught yourself a good man, Ellie. A very good one.”

  My rib cage constricts my heart. I swoon a little too. Logan proving again his devotion to family.

  The damaged, dark, and dangerous man I met months ago has done more than change himself, he’s changed me and I couldn’t be happier.

  Two people whose paths were interconnected and crossed at the right time have fallen in love. Because only the Lord knows where I would be if Logan Mitchell hadn’t come onto me the night we met.

  God, it’s only going to get better from here.

  Tears soak my face.

  “He’s everything to me, Renita.”

  “I know, Ellie. I knew all along Logan would be. The minute you stepped through the door and I saw your face, I wanted to run and pull you into my arms and congratulate you. Let me see the ring. Bet it looks as good on you as it did on your mother.”

  Moisture glistens in her eyes.

  “Pour another shot, Norah. Keep them coming, we have to celebrate and start planning a wedding.”

  I’d been wrong about no more laughter. It came out in the rest of the tequila and singing and dancing to our favorite songs.

  Epilogue

  Ellie

  “Sometimes we sit around and contemplate the choices we have to make. We worry if we’re doing the right thing. We weigh our options, trying to tip the scale one way or the other. Deciding whatever way it falls is the choice we’re making. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are certain situations where the wrong choice could cost, but I think those choices we make where we don’t think about the outcome because in our hearts we already know it’s right, are the most vital choices we will ever make.”

  It takes everything I have in me to keep quiet as I listen to Renita. To not let the happy tears of the choices I’ve made since meeting Logan leak over my closed lids.

  My thoughts drift toward the windows, knowing the best choice I’ve made is on the other side probably waiting not so patiently to catch a glimpse of me.

  “You made a choice to embrace fears and follow your heart. Logan made a choice to change. You did it for each other, Ellie. You took a risk, and you leaped, and the choices the two of you made brought you home. It brought you happiness and peace and so much love. You’re the woman your parents wanted you to be, Ellie. Happy and loved and cherished. There, I think you’re ready to go marry that choice, baby girl.”

  Opening my eyes, I catch Renita as she backs away from the mirror propped up against the kitchen table.

  My heart overflowing with how lucky I am to have her when I see the necklace she said she wanted me to wear today resting just below my throat.

  “Renita.” I’m at a loss for words. />
  “It’s perfect, isn’t it? The first thing I did was take this off the shelf in your father’s office the day Elizabeth fired me. Then I grabbed your costumes and left. I wish I would have been able to get more of your mother’s things, but this, I was not letting Elizabeth get her hands on, I don’t know why your dad had it there, why Elizabeth never found it. It doesn’t matter, it’s yours. I made a choice to hold on to it until the time was right to give it to you. I don’t regret it, not when today is the day for you have it.”

  I can hear my mother’s voice as she thanked my father for this heart-shaped blue sapphire necklace. He gave it to her the Christmas before she passed away. Her mind already lost to who we were. He put it on her and she never took it off. I always thought she was buried with it, the same with her wedding rings.

  My dad took them both. He was saving them for me.

  “Thank you, Renita. Not only for this, for loving me, guiding me, protecting me. For making the choice to raise me. Mostly, for being my mother. That’s what you are to me. The best choice my parents ever made was hiring you. I’m ready.” I touch the necklace. Feeling my parents’ presence as I pick up my bouquet of bluebonnets, the sweet aroma surrounding me along with the woman I love more than words can say.

  “Unconditionally, Ellie Mae. Always.”

  We turn and look out the door into the back yard where the sun is less than minutes away from setting.

  I’ve seen hundreds of sunsets over the past year, each one as exquisite as the next, but I’ve never seen one look quite like this. Because standing on the edge of the field full of blooming bluebonnets along with a scattering of white twinkling lights and the rolling waves behind him, is my prince. Waiting for me to become his wife.

  Logan’s wearing a black suit, white shirt, and a black tie. Gabe stands next to Logan dressed the same. He couldn’t choose which one of his brothers he wanted as best man, so he asked the man who chose to raise the three of them as his own.

  Lazaro if officiating. Who would have known that the mafia boss was also ordained? I didn’t, and neither did Logan until we announced the date and Lazaro offered to marry us. Seems fitting since the man held his own part in me being here today.

  Our only guests are Seth, Logan, Rocco, Eric, and my employees.

  So much has happened in the past year. So many good things that every day I wake and feel blessed.

  Logan and Lane found a building to start their business. Logan designed the inside himself and once the building permits were pulled, materials ordered, both he and Lane went hands-on with helping Andrew.

  Mitchell Brother Holdings is now Mitchell Brothers and Associates. They’ve been in business for about three months, and as of last month when Seth returned from rehab, he’s working with them.

  Changes. I see them in everyone’s future. Everyone’s except Lane, and it saddens my heart. But today isn’t the day to contemplate on anyone’s future except mine and Logan’s.

  As for me? It took a couple of weeks for me to get settled and find a job. I went to work at the consignment shop Renita used to take us to. I now own it and we’re opening another one in Houston shortly after Logan and I get home from our honeymoon.

  I have no idea where we are going. I was told to trust him and I do.

  Utterly.

  Wholly.

  Drawn. As if Logan can feel me, those forest green eyes lock on mine.

  It makes no difference how many times he looks at me the way he is now. So full of want and need. A love that can never be unbound holds me captive.

  Unravel.

  Undone.

  Untwist.

  “Come on, Aunt Ellie, it’s time.”

  Lexi stands by the door in her pink tulle dress that flares at the bottom. She looks like the little princess she is. Her toothless smile is big and wide as she holds Norah’s hand. Her blonde hair piled on top of her head. Pinned around a glittering crown.

  Our sweet angel has adapted to her new life like we knew she would.

  “I’ll be right behind you.”

  “You’re the prettiest bride ever, Aunt Ellie. I have Uncle Logan’s surprise in my bag. I didn’t even tell Daddy our secret.”

  Warmth and anticipation cover me as she and Norah slip through the same door I went through, chasing down my biggest fear.

  Not anymore, every time I walk through it, I feel safe, secure and home.

  My mouth goes dry and I take a step forward, gazing one last time in the mirror and smoothing my dress. With a few alterations, my mother’s dress fits perfectly. Hugging me in all the places that drive Logan wild.

  “Let’s get you married.”

  Taking Renita’s hand, a fresh round of tears ready to fall when Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” starts playing.

  A frown appears on Logan’s face when I don’t move as we rehearsed last night.

  “Lord have mercy on my soul, I did not raise this girl to be mean.”

  I hold back my laugh. “I’m not being mean. I told you I want to walk down the aisle with him holding what Lexi is giving him in his hand.”

  Logan’s frown turns into a sly smile when he bends to Lexi’s height, and she hands him the photo, giggling as she points to the circle she drew. Her hands and mouth running a mile a minute.

  Adorable.

  Glassy eyes full of more love than I’ve ever seen this man showering me with beams from him as I make my way toward him. My legs begging and screaming to run.

  Every cell in my body comes alive, my heart pounding at my ribs as I meet the man of my dreams. I see his face, I hear his voice, I feel his hands as he tenderly cups my cheek.

  “A baby. This little dot is our baby?” He lifts the ultrasound. His voice shaking as well as his hands. As much as my lips.

  Shivering and shuddering at the man who is going to make an excellent father. The man who came into my life like a storm.

  It started out rough and violent. Secrets and lies that could have destroyed. Through it all, we fell in love, finding something deep, intense and extreme.

  Everything.

  “Yes, Logan, that’s our baby. I’m pregnant.”

  Words I wasn’t able to say before feel as right as this man tripping out of my mouth.

  This road we’ve traveled has led us right where we want to be.

  Home.

  A family.

  Devotion.

  Love.

  His sly smile remains, eyes raking up and down my body, glinting with all the things he was planning on doing to my body later.

  I can’t wait.

  Logan slides his hand to my neck, and his face in the waves of my hair. My pulse hasn’t stopped fluttering crazy wild since I woke. Now it’s taking flight. Soaring and pressing against the hand that holds me close at night.

  “Thank you for loving me, trusting me, wanting me. I love you, Ellie. Going to love this one with all I have.”

  Not surprisingly, Logan drops to his knees, one palm resting on my stomach.

  “I promise to protect you and your mother for the rest of my life. You will never go a day without knowing how much you are loved. Daddy will talk to you later, right now I have to make your mother my wife.”

  And he does.

  The End.

  Abrupt

  Click the link below to add ABRUPT, Lane Mitchell’s story, to your TBR.

  ABRUPT releases on April 20th and will go directly into Kindle Unlimited.

  TBR- bit.ly/36No9Ak

  ABRUPT BLURB

  Have you ever wondered if regret will imprison you, or does it set us free as the truth does? Regret was the one thing I had. It owned my charred black soul. That emotion was digging so deep into my bones like a deadly disease. I hid it well. Let people believe I was a kind man. I’m far from one. I’m brash, bold, and angry at the curveball life has thrown at me. My saving grace came in the form of a tiny bundle wrapped in pink. My daughter. The day I learned I’d raise her on my own, was the day I kept the only
vow I didn’t intend to break. I wasn’t letting a woman in my bed or my heart. There wasn’t room for one with my daughter owning one half and a woman I let slip through my fingers holding onto the other without her knowing it. I kept that vow until now. She’s back. The one that owns the other half of my heart. She’s carrying more pain than she left with, I can see it in her eyes. I should never have let her go, and now my regret is here, facing me head-on. I made a mistake, one I plan to rectify. I am a Mitchell, after all. I’ll stop at nothing to get what I want. Her. I have to prove to her that there will be no more broken promises, show her that my heart, the half I gave to her so long ago, is still hers.

  About the Author

  USA Today Best Selling Author Kathy Coopmans is a Michigan native where she lives with her husband, Tony. They have two son's Aaron and Shane.

  She is a sports nut. Her favorite sports include NASCAR, Baseball, and Football.

  She has recently retired from her day job to become a full-time writer.

  She has always been an avid reader and at the young age of 50 decided she wanted to write. She claims she can do several things at once and still stay on task. Her favorite quote is "I got this."

  Release notifications- text Kcoop to 21000